Home satellite receiving systems have grown in popularity over the years. People living in rural areas were early adopters, as these people were often underserved by cable and regional broadcast networks. They mounted large dish receivers in their fields or backyards to enable satellite reception of a broader selection of programming. As transmission technology improved, the dish size decreased, paving the way for wider adoption in residential and urban areas. The dish functions as a passive reflector to focus signals received from the satellite onto a low noise block (LNB) element. Signals are transmitted in the microwave range of 11.7 to 12.2 GHz, and once received, are translated to multiple transponder frequencies ranging from 950 to 1450 GHz.
Early home satellite receiving systems were equipped with one tuner to tune to one transponder. The tuner resided in an indoor unit, often referred to as the integrated receiver/decoder (IRD). The IRD allowed the viewer to select a satellite polarity and a transponder and receive one or more programs carried by the transponder. To choose a different program not in that transponder, the IRD-based tuner may need to select a new polarity so that it could tune to the correct transponder for the desired program.
With the growth in popularity of personal video recorders (e.g., digital video recorders, such as UltimateTV®-brand system from Microsoft Corporation), some satellite receiving systems are now equipped with multiple tuners. This allows the viewer to watch one program while recording another. The tuners are capable of tuning to different transponders independently of each other, thereby enabling reception of multiple signals. The signals are conducted from the outdoor receiving dish to the indoor IRD via multiple cables, one for each tuner. As an example, the UltimateTV®-brand system from Microsoft Corporation is equipped with two tuners, and two coaxial cables are employed to interconnect the satellite receiver with the system.
It would be an improvement, however, if home satellite receiving systems could be equipped with multiple tuners, yet not require such cumbersome cabling.